Gigabyte GA-Z68AP-D3 Z68 review – bargain mobo of the year

Kitguru often focuses on the ultra high end hardware, but today we are building a system around the Gigabyte GA-Z68AP-D3 Z68 motherboard, a new product which aims to deliver the best price point possible. At a shade under £85 we wanted to test this new mobo with the award winning Intel 2500K processor. Can we upgrade your older system to a new, kick ass CrossfireX gaming system for around £600?

As this is an upgrade scenario, you will already have a chassis, hard drive, power supply, monitor, keyboard/mouse and we will focus on upgrading the core components including processor, graphics, motherboard, memory and cooler.

The system above is well balanced with some of the best priced components on the market. Obviously if you also need a power supply upgrade you could run initially with a single graphics card, then upgrade with another at a later date, when funds permit.

On paper the Gigabyte -Z68AP-D3 Z68 seems almost too good to be true, especially at this budget price point. It is fully loaded and even comes equipped with Intel Smart Response Technology, the first ever mSATA drive connectors on a standard desktop PC motherboard. It has CrossfireX support, USB 3.0 connectors and SATA 6Gbps connectors.